Rob Benvie

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Rob Benvie (born Halifax, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian rock musician, who has performed with alternative rock acts Thrush Hermit, Camouflage Nights, The Tennis Injury, The Tim Robbins Experience, Drug Dog and The Dears.

As the guitarist, singer and songwriter in Thrush Hermit, Benvie gained Canadian indie rock notoriety. Thrush Hermit also included Joel Plaskett, Ian McGettigan and Cliff Gibb. Touring extensively through Canada and the United States, Thrush Hermit released two EPs on Murderecords, Smart Bomb and Great Pacific Ocean. They signed to the American label Elektra Records and released their full length Sweet Homewrecker. It wasn't until 1999 when Thrush Hermit released Clayton Park on Sonic Unyon Records that they made a splash on the scene. Prior to Thrush Hermit's success, Benvie made home recordings under the name The Tennis Injury.

After the break-up of Thrush Hermit, Benvie wrote and produced homemade solo work as Tigre Benvie, releasing two albums as Tigre Benvie, Year of the Mutt and Bankruptcy. In 2001, he moved to Montreal to finish an English degree at Concordia University. There he joined The Dears as a guitar player after the recording of their No Cities Left album.

Benvie eventually left The Dears and Montreal for Toronto to work on writing and record with McGettigan under the band name Camouflage Nights. While in-progress versions of the album and its singles have leaked, their debut album will be released in 2008 by Labwork Music/EMI.

In May 2001 literature and humour website McSweeney's featured an essay by Benvie titled "The Porn I Like". His first novel, Safety of War, was published in 2004 by Coach House Books. He has admitted to over ten years of work on another novel titled Barefoot Teenagers, partially about the history of CGI, windsurfing, obsessive compulsive disorder, the life and tragic death of Shannon Hoon and an alternate post-WWIII pseudo-history of denim.

[edit] Discography

  • 2000 - Year of the Mutt
  • 2002 - Bankruptcy

[edit] Books